multiversallogs | (no subject)

Well, that explains a lot. "From what you're saying, sounds like I was taken about three weeks later. Which—dear God, this makes no sense, I don't even know how the timeline isn't collapsing on itself since you've been around since then, I'm nearly certain—" Has she? Jones has been terribly busy to the point where it's hard to remember who she has and hasn't talked to recently.

She thinks a little. Time isn't her frield of expertise. So hopefully space-time will forgive her for giving the past a little... advice. (Nimue might not—but Nimue doesn't have to know.) "But, uh, just so you know, in about a week the Baron will take over the newspaper openly to gloat about his impending victory and the Prince will go berserk and set the coal tunnels on fire. So if you end up back where you came from, er... try to remember that, maybe."

Jones sighs. "In any case, I resigned as Seneschal. Told Mrs. Simpson she could have it if she wanted it, actually."

"Well..."

There was really nothing to say to that, was there? Atiyeh had been one of the finest Princes Mina had ever served under. He had been firm, but fair. Trusted everyone until they gave him a reason to doubt them. That was a rare quality. One that had given her reason and cause to trust him, even when his judgment seemed questionable (such as when he named her primogen, for one). And now...now he was apparently less than perfect. Well, all right, no one was perfect. But lighting the city on fire? Really?

"I see," she said finally. "And...I apologize for my defensive outburst. I didn't realize...all the facts."

Mina was fairly certain she was on the verge of tears.

"Oh, um—I mean, don't worry, I kind of get that, I mean..." Jones is really not good at the comforting thing. Or the people thing, really. "To be perfectly honest, I quite liked him. It's just the whole burning-down-the-city thing is a still a bit of a sore point. I wish it hadn't come to that."

Mina slowly sank down to the floor, closing her eyes. When vampires cried, it was actually quite a disturbing thing. They had no fluids left in their bodies, other than blood. And blood flowed through tearducts just as well as water. Mina made it a point never to cry in public for just that reason, along with one or two others, all related to her gender issues.

Fiercely, she squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to speak in a calm, rational tone of voice.

"Come to that? How bad were things with the Baron? I mean, a newspaper is annoying, but that doesn't equal a bonfire." She paused. "Does it?" She looked up at Jones. "Does it?"

"Ohgodohgodpleasedon'tcryI'msorry—look, it was looking pretty bad at that point, yes, but we managed to turn things around. Chicago still stands, just as it was. Or, it will soon, anyway, once we finish rebuilding a few things."

Well, more or less as it was. Just a little spatially dislocated. But this doesn't seem like a good time to mention that to Barrett.

Jones pulls a handkerchief from her pocket and offers it to Barrett. "Hey, it's okay. Once we got done with the Baron, all that was left was his stupid top hat. We got him good."

Mina opened her eyes, blood clotted now in her eyelashes. She dismissed Jones' handkerchief politely. No need to mess up the pretty lace. Instead, she ran her thumbs under each of her eyes, doing a reasonably good job of tidying up. Ironically, it had been on the night of her escape from Chicago that she last saw a vampire cry. Poor Rosa, mortified as she finally confessed that she was working so hard to protect her brother, his wife, and her nieces from DiMarco, of all people. It had been easier then. Mina was the elder and she knew how to comfort the poor girl. But now...she was just out of her depth.

"Well, I'm sure you and McBride dealt nicely with the son of a bitch." She covered her mouth. "Pardon my language." Whatever else Jones was, she was still a lady.

Carefully, Mina stood up again, smoothing down her shirt and composing herself as best she could. "I suppose there's hope," she said. "If you saw me in Chicago on that night, three weeks into my future, perhaps that means there is an escape from Baedal after all. Maybe I will be sent back in order to return to Chicago."

"That would be nice. I'd like to see my brother and sister again..." she says, without thinking, and freezes. What if she does never see her brother and sister again? And only just having freed Justina from the Baron.

But if it's possible that Mina gets sent back, then maybe... she can only hope.

"Brother and sister?" Mina turned to look at Jones. As quickly as it came, her surprise melted away. Oh yes. That's right. "I suppose you would have family still living," she said quietly, bowing her head apologetically. "It's just strange to hear something like that coming from my...Seneschal." Mina shrugged. What could she do? This was who she was. "I'll break myself of the habit. I don't imagine you want to be called that. It's just difficult to think..." She laughed. "I liked you so much better than Wallis."

Liked. Like. She wasn't sure of her tenses right now.

"Rosa actually has living family. She's a very new vampire. The night I disappeared was the night that the four of us, Rosa, Brie, Luke, and I, rescued them from DiMarco. I will admit, I was a bit jealous. All of my family is...well..."

Except for Tom. He never really existed.

[;_; awwwww HEY WE CAN BOND OVER OUR DEAD FAMILIES]

"I like nearly everyone much better than Wallis," Jones quips. Then her expression softens. "I'm sorry. It never gets any easier, does it?"

Easier? Try harder. Again her will, Mina thought of Tom. Until the end of her days, she would never be able to fully cope with the way that story had ended. Honestly, she would have been happier to know that he was dead and gone, killed the night the Centurions took him. It was easier than the thought of him really being...who he was.

Mina shrugged. "I was lucky. My brother died when I was two. I don't really remember him. Never knew who the bloody hell my father was. Just me and my mother most of my life. Fewer people to leave behind, I guess. I never really had much in the way of family until my Embrace. My sire, she's an incredible person. I respect her more than anyone. Even Atiyeh."

She glanced up at Jones. "Perhaps you would have liked her. A good person. For a vampire."

Jones smiles. "I imagine if she were anything like you, I would have." The truth is, she respects Barrett a great deal. She thinks had they met when she was a younger girl, she would have looked up to the woman.

Flattery was a difficult art where Mina was concerned. In the case of Jones, she decided just to brush it off. Jones was doubtlessly trying to repair the damage. Mina would decide later whether or not she had done well. "Anne was a great hero. In both of her lives; mortal and Kindred. I could spend three days just telling epic stories of her deeds. It would be quite dramatic." Mina laughed softly. "You've never heard me tell a story. I used to be quite good at it. Sheriff Cormac could vouch for that."

God, she missed Jacqueline.

"There are two kinds of Kindred, Jones. The kind who cling to their humanity. And the kind who embrace the darkness. The latter, well, I have little to say of them, other that 'good riddens.' As for the former, the one thing I've learned, over time, is that they create their own families to fill the void that's left behind." She shook her head. "We're not monsters. We're nearly as human as humans."

"You don't have to convince me," says Jones, wryly. "I suppose both vampires and mages, like humans, have free will, to use for good or for evil. In that way, we are more than a little alike, I think."

Jones knows all too well of ones who embrace the darkness among mages; those who abandon wisdom and seek only power, who forget their humanity in tracing the paths of the Supernal.

For the first time, Mina felt some small measure of relief. She was still hurting and resentful, but finally, she felt that maybe she could deal with Jones. The real Jones. At least, she hoped she was being honest. And that she didn't see Mina as some kind of monster freak, but as a complete person. A flawed person. But one with dimensions beyond wickedness.

"Yes. Maybe we really are all alike in that respect," she said with a bit of a nod. "And God knows, none of us are perfect."

Herself included.

And on that subject. "There's something I'd like to know, though. About your time." She took a deep, shaky breath. It was really a force of habit. Of course, Tom breathed too. But that was because he was insane. Apparently. "How was the matter of Leander's Beast resolved?"

"Leander's... Beast? Does he have a, a pet or something?" She thinks hard, trying to come up with something that fits that description. If he does, she's never seen it.

[it took her like five games to figure out that vampires used blood to heal, okay]

"Oh. I suppose you weren't party to that. The...the Bellwether Beast, on the day I left, ran rampant through the city, looking for Mary Read."

Mina was feeling a little bit more than guilty about that one. Leander had come to her, asking for a way to spread around his legend so that he might attain the powers of a Fae. Selfishly, she had inserted herself into the story. Greed had always been a downfall for her. And then, at the least opportune moment, on a whim, she had convinced her own ward, Veronica, to dress up as Mary Read for the stupid masquerade party.

In retrospect, she probably should have seen it coming.

"I suppose I've just been worried about the people I've left behind," she sighed. "Especially poor Veronica. The Beast was after her..." Mina curled her hand up into a fist, resting it against her lips. "I suppose after the church incident, you know that I...well, Veronica, Rosa, Brie...I've been looking after them. Anna too, to a lesser extent. Although she's beyond my reach at this point. I always worry about the women in my city."

"Oh. Oh! Well, I can help you with that, actually! Veronica's quite all right, don't worry about her. Although—I wasn't really there for it, so I don't have the story sorted, it's mostly what I've heard—"

Wow, what she's about to say sounds totally ridiculous. Oh, well. "Something about that weird booze Jurgen makes getting thrown at the Bellwether Beast and Veronica accidentally absorbing it. Although I think it might have gone away, like the rest of the Fae titles handed out, when the..." Eh, she might as well tell her. Timeline back home's can't be more ruined than it already is. "Well, when the Queen won the game."

The relief on Mina's face was utterly blatant upon hearing that Veronica was all right. One less guilty little stunt to add to her conscience, after all. God, how had she been so stupid? Ego, she supposed. If greed was her worst vice, then pride was a close second. And lately, she noticed, lust had been high up there. But that was only natural, considering the fact that for the first time, she finally considered herself to be truly a widow.

If she still considered her marriage valid at all.

But her forehead furrowed at the mention of the Queen. "That was the best possible outcome, yes?" Mina had tried so desperately hard to keep out the Fae business as much as possible, engrossed as she was with the Centurions. Of course, some of it had been unavoidable. They did have a tendency to walk into Elysium. Still, she was neither Ordo Dracul nor particularly interested, until the Baron started attacking her with a train.

"Yeah, we were sort-of backing the Queen, since Anna made her agree to keep the city as-is," says Jones. Which the Queen had kept. Sort of, at least. Jones herself rather liked the weather in the Queen's realm, so she couldn't really bring herself to mind. "But anyway, Veronica's even gotten herself a bit of a beau in the meantime, so she's doing quite well."

And while they were having more amicable conversation, there was something she'd been meaning to ask about—"Say, you mentioned some people called 'Hellsing' before, didn't you? I've been hearing about them around, but I was curious what you knew about them.

"...you said you didn't trust them?"

Ah, yes. The Hellsing people. Mina was fairly certain Anna had already gotten into bed with them and she had little doubt that Jones would eventually do the same. She supposed she couldn't blame either of them. Both of them had something to gain from those people. Anna needed help controlling that bit of Fae inside of her. And Jones had a curiosity that could be satisfied working for them. Mina was the outsider on this one. All she had gotten from Hellsing, so far, was a handful of very insulting epitaphs and a headache.

"I don't trust any organization," she said carefully, "which keeps lists. I feel as if I'm being watched. And they certainly can't be trusted to keep secrets. Not two days after I met with their leader, I had a lecherous little maggot throwing barbs at me regarding my undead status. I've been on the outs with them ever since. Which was ironic, since they were offering me a job. Unfortunately, they're not as good at offering apologies. I may not be in command here, but I am owed more respect than to be called a British ice queen who ought to be fucked." Mina cleared her throat delicately. "Pardon my language."

It occurred to her how easy it would be to twist and manipulate Jones' emotions. She could easily point out that they were akin to certain individuals who kept lists of communists. But Mina didn't want to be manipulative. Certainly not with a mage and certainly not with one who had been kind to her friends in the past. Jones could make her own decisions about Hellsing. Mina just hoped her decisions wouldn't leave her adrift and completely friendless.

"No offense taken," says Jones, mildly—she knows plenty of people who've worked the docks, and has picked up a certain number of interesting words from then that would make most people's hair stand on end.

"Although if you happen to have a description or a name for this... person... I'd be happy to help make life more, aha, interesting for him. That's a hell of a thing to say to a woman." She sighs. "In any case, color me forewarned."

"His name is Rejean Sept-Heure and I'd probably advise staying away from him," Mina said with a bit of a sigh. "He's Kindred, although I don't know what kind and frankly, I don't care to know. Clearly one who wasn't hugged enough as a child."

God knew there were plenty of those to go around. Those were the ones who generally became the serial killers, the Masquerade breachers, the Lancae Sanctum.

"Anyway, that's my two cents on the Hellsing people. Approach with caution. They're not my enemies...but I'm not sure I would count them as my friends either."

"Right, well. Thanks for the heads-up, anyway." Jones gives a dry chuckle. "God, and I thought nothing could top the weirdness in Chicago. Tempting fate, I suppose."

She gives Barrett a small smile. "Look, I know all of this has... well, undermined my trustworthiness considerably, and I'd like to fix that. I don't know if at this point we can start over from square one, but if there's anything I can do for you... lemme know, all right?"

Mina paused to consider the offer for a moment. "Well," she said slowly, "I could use your help in building something." She leaned against the wall, facing Jones. She was about to take an enormous risk. The type that all vampiric neonates were warned against. But unless someone trusted someone else, they could all one day become single targets.

"I want to build a clinic. And a haven."

"Build a—"

Oh, now Jones's language is being spoken. "Ooh, well, as long as we've got a place to build it—I wonder what kind of building materials they have here? If it's sort-of the future, it must be pretty great! If I can just get some hands on some tools—I can probably look up the guy who said he could lend me a soldering iron, he looked like he had lots of tools—"

Mina was pleased to see Jones' youthful enthusiasm. It was refreshing, a bit of a reminder of her own younger days when she thought she could conquer the world. "I do have someplace in mind. For the clinic, anyway. The corner where I set up my first aid station seems appropriate. It's a bit of a hike to any hospitals, but within reach of those Hellsing people, for supernatural situations. I'll be happy to show it to you tomorrow night, if you're interested in the project."

She paused a moment. "Unlike Dr. M and Dr. Brown, I actually am a medical doctor. It doesn't come up much around court, I suppose. No one really takes me seriously there." Which was just the way she liked it, truth be told. "But if we're going to be stuck here, I think I'd prefer a quiet practice to all the politics."

"Of course I'm interested! Tomorrow night should be fine—although I'll have to do some research first. I'm a more proficient mechanist than I am an architect, after all."

She has to resist the impulse to pull out her notebook and start scribbling schematics. Oh—screw it, she's doing it anyway. "I understand the feeling, myself. Social standing and that kind of politicking has never really been my cup of tea. How large a space are you imagining, and what would you need to fit in it? I presume your haven would be underground, so we'd want a basement..."

Mina rarely used the word 'cute' but at the moment, she decided, it definitely applied. Jones was just so...young. Frankly, as Mina thought about it, she had never been that young. Of course, her childhood had been a masquerade of a different kind from Jones'. In a much, much harsher period of human history. Still, she felt a slight pang of jealousy for an instant or two.

"Yes. A basement. Perhaps an attic too, for storage. A triage or waiting room. Two doctor's offices. A few private examination rooms. And, if possible, an operating room that can be somehow sterilized." This was not going to be a small project. That, however, suited Mina just fine. She never did anything small.

"I was thinking of calling it the Mary Read Clinic. After the hospital in Chicago."

"A little piece of Chicago, right here in Baedal." Jones smiles, though there's something distant in her expression. Homesick, maybe. "I like it."

She yawns. "Well, I'm not nocturnal, despite lots of evidence to the contrary, and I should probably get some sleep for tomorrow, because I'm going to be busy at the library. And I'm sure you've got better things to do with your night than listen to me natter about building plans, so tomorrow night it is for checking out the site?"

"Tomorrow night it is," Mina said with a bit of a nod. The evening had been emotionally draining so far. It was probably best for them to part ways. They both needed time to think, time to heal. And despite the way the conversation had gone, Mina knew she wasn't completely blameless. Trust was a two-way street, she supposed.

Of course, none of her lies had ever harmed Jones much.

"Goodnight, Jones." She started to the door, but stopped, looking back over her shoulder. "Tell me one thing. What is your first name?"

Pause. "Just so you know exactly what you're asking," says Jones, slowly, "there are precisely seven people currently living who know my real name.

"It's not something mages give out lightly. In the wrong hands, it could be used to strike at me anywhere, anytime. So," she finishes, "you understand why I hesitate."

"I understand," Mina said.

And nothing else. It was up to Jones, where she wanted to go from here. Frankly, Mina wasn't going to press the issue. But her curiosity was screaming at the moment. An old failing, to be certain. One she could never quite quell.

And it has been such a long time since someone called her—"Valerija," she says, looking away. "It's Valerija. Val, if you like."

She looks Barrett in the eye, with a bit of a wry smile. "I don't think you'll abuse it. Just, please—know what this means."

Mina nodded. Valerija. It suited her somehow. Properly exotic, but with a touch of...magic. Yes. It was a magical name. "You'll always be Jones to me," Mina said gently.

She turned around and started to walk out, thinking about the name. Valerija. Valerija. It was actually quite beautiful. Like the female form. Hidden and secretive, which made it all the more appealing.

Pausing by the door, Mina turned to look back once more. "Mine is Mary," she said.

Mary... Jones nods. She's made the right decision. "G'night... Mina."